


Murder in the IB

by SethVecc



Category: None - Fandom
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:40:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23178613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SethVecc/pseuds/SethVecc
Summary: IB class reunion but this time a murder mystery.
Kudos: 2





	1. Backgrouds

**Author's Note:**

> Hope everyone enjoys this. I'm posting this now so you guys have something to do over this time of boredom without anyschool.

This story takes place after the summer of our second year of college. The age range is from 19-21 years old. The IB class has had an event every summer to reconnect and have fun from the stress free lives of summer vacation. Even if some have dropped out they were in IB for so long that they are still considered part of the family.

Background for each character from Senior year to the time of the story:

Emma C: Emma found a girlfriend in Senior year when she went to camp but they broke up after being together for 3 months due to some complications in talking abou college and the future. She went to a college near her home so she can visit her family on the weekends but decided to live in the dorms to get the best possible college experience. She is still in close contact with many IB kids and is excited to see everyone once again. She is currently talking to someone but hasn't told anyone quite yet. 

Emma L: Emma went to a college near home not wanting to go that far and stick close to who she knows. She got a major in Accounting for it pays good and a minor in business and she got an internship with a company to learn more about what job she will get for her future. 

Malachi: Malachi decided to go to a college far enough to be on his own but decided to still only be a couple hours away so he can visit his family. His niece is still one of the best possible visits and seeing her might have influenced how far away he wanted to go. He keeps in contact with a lot of IB kids but doesn't see a lot of them as much as he would like. 

Hayden: Hayden went to a college close to home wanting to be close with his family. In Senior year he got a girlfriend and they tried to do a long distance relationship in college but after a few months they went against it and decided to just break up. He currently got an apartment close to his college but still visits his family at least once a week. He keeps in close contact with everyone, especially Xion, Jazzy, Emma C and Mal. 

Seth: Seth was one of the only kids who decided to go to a school outside of the state. Wanting to be on his own he still keeps in close contact with everyone even if they dont talk for a couple of months he makes sure to text people updates. He mostly texts Emma C to give her the tea. IN senior year he got a boyfriend for three months then broke up and then got a girlfriend who went till he left for college. He is currently in a relationship but keeps it under wraps to everyone. 

Rena: Rena found her dream college out of state but she decided to go against it and stick to the places she knows. Although she is currently thinking of transferring but is afraid to leave her friends. She is close contact with her main group Kristen and Emma L but still enjoys talking to everyone. 

Kristen: Kristen went to the same college as Emma L and Rena and she currently has an apartment that she shares with the both of them. She doesn't talk much to te rest of IB but she likes to hear updates on them by others.   
Bobby: Bobby went to a school out of state and only talked to a couple of IB kids but he believes that he needed to grow before going back. He is very excited to see everyone again and can't wait to get to the campsite. 

Bryan: Bryan went to the same school as Bobby but they don't talk or see one another that much. Bryan enjoys his new friends and doesn't really talk to any IB kids anymore except about 4. 

Athena: Athena went to a school near her home but every summer after the IB trip she goes and explores the world. She likes to study the cultures of small town villages and is considering studying abroad for her next year. She talks with many IB kids almost every single day. 

Izzy: Izzy went to school about a couple hours away from her family. She is a theater major and just landed an audition for Broadway and she can't wait for it. She talks to many IB kids and shares an apartment with Jamie. 

Jazzy: Jazzy went to school near home but lives on campus. She talks to many IB kids and loves to hear how college is going for them. She has made new friends but the ones that have been closest to hear are still the ones she has considered family. 

Connor: Connor went to school out of state and barely ever talks to any IB kids that much. Not much is known on what is happening with him right now but he still shows up to the IB reunion. 

Ethan: Ethan stayed near home and found a school for his major. He currently has a part time job at the San Diego Zoo and thoroughly enjoys it. He barely talks to everyone but he does enjoy the meet ups with everyone in the IB. 

Alyssa: Alyssa lives near her home and got a small apartment near her family's house. She volunteers at many events for special needs kids especially ones that concern her brother. She is considering being a special needs teacher but doesn't know if she can handle that many kids at a time. 

Colin: Colin took a year off college but when he decided to return he really enjoyed the environment. He talks to Alyssa still but barely talks to the rest of IB. He comes to the IB reunion because he does enjoy seeing everyone but since he was stuck with everyone for four years can really only stand it for a year. 

Alex: Alex currently has his own apartment and a full time job in being a swimming coach for young kids. He enjoys his life but barely talks to the rest of the IB kids. He wants to catch up to the IB group because he has secretly wanted to tell someone what he truly feels about them and decided this is the year that it would happen. 

Robert: Robert talks to some kids in the IB still but only the ones he was really close with. He is doing well in college and seems to have grown as a person not being that much of the kid who was a bit awkward in situations. 

James: James went to a school out of state and is currently thriving being the top of his class. He is loving college life and is being offered many job offers even though he just got out of his second year of college. 

Roy: Roy stayed near his home and is doing very well in college. He wants to become an architect but has a minor in public speaking and is the leader of his debate team. He decided to take a chance in college since he never did it in High School and is currently in a relationship. 

Ashley: Ashley got a scholarship for her basketball skills and is currently going to school in the state. She wants to focus on her studies and her basketball training. She keeps in close contact with a small group of Ib kids but enjoyed seeing everyone every year. 

Jamie:Jamie currently lives in an apartment with Izzy. She has a boyfriend from college named Tony (which Izzy constantly teases her about). They have been together for 6 months. Jamie loves college thinking it was much easier than her high school experience. 

Bri: Bri goes to college near her home but decided to live on campus. She enjoys her life and still talks to many IB kids almost everyday. She loves her college life thinking and enjoying learning about what she wants to see. 

Zoe: Zoe doesn't talk to any of the IB kids but enjoys coming to the IB reunions to see how far she has come in life. She will always appreciate her high school years but is glad to see that it is over. 

Xion: Xion went to a college of her dreams which was outside the state. She is close contact with her family and IB friends. She has decided that she will be a college math professor and is currently a TA for her college math professor. She loves coming to the IB reunion to see and catch up with everyone in her life. 

Azam: Azam decided to go to school in the state. He enjoys his college life and only talks to certain Ib kids. HIs friends convinced him to come to her IB reunion and decided to go in order to catch up with everyone.


	2. Emma C

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy everyone

I was in the car in the passenger seat next to Seth as he was driving. The cool breeze from the open windows was a refreshing feeling and the air smelt of salt the way I knew the ocean smelled. The buildings were going by as a blur in my mind, it was too early for this in the morning the sun wasn't even up yet. 

“Tell me why we had to go this early again.” I asked Seth. He kept his eyes on the road but replied.  
“Because to get to Catalina we have to be at the docks by 6:30am and since you guys made me in charge of everything this year I have to get there at 5:30am to talk to the captain and make sure everyone gets here safe. You could have just drove yourself.”  
“You know why I can't drive myself.” I gave him a sharp look.   
“Yeah, Yeah I know your gay and gays cant drive but we both know that I am too but also its to early to get the jokes in.” 

I gave a huff before looking out my window again. He knows me so well that I would just make another joke. He also knows the real reason that I didn't want to drive myself. The unspoken thing between us we sat before I decided to break the ice knowing that if I changed the subject he would go along with it. That's why I love Seth. He does not question me when things are awkward and lets me tell him on my own time. 

“So how is Caitlin and Lance?” I ask  
Caitlin and Lance are Seth's girlfriend and boyfriend. He hasn't told any of IB yet except me of being in a polymourous relationship, or his family after the bad blood that they had last year.   
“They are upset that I’m leaving for the week.” He said with a frown on his lips.  
“You know they could have joined us if you wanted them too. We had the conversation of these types of relationships in Junior year if I remember correctly, so they won't judge you. And if they did I'd beat their ass.”   
Seth laughed “Emma, we both know that you can’t beat anyone's ass if you wanted to. Plus I was going to tell everyone tonight instead of just bringing them and springing it on everyone.”  
He then turned to me real quick and asked. “And how is your special person, excited to see him?” My cheeks started to feel warm.  
“Oh shut up! But yes I am happy to see him.”  
“Are you guys gonna act all lovey dovey or pretend you two arent together?” Seth questioned  
“I'm not sure we want to tell everyone just yet.” I said sadly. I desperately wanted to tell the entire world that we were together but just not yet.   
“Well you guys could just tell everyone after I tell everyone that I am dating two people at the same time. If that makes it any easier for you guys.”  
“That's nice but I'll have to ask him first.”

Seth turned into a parking lot at that moment and parked next to a building marked Catalina Transports. I looked around and saw that the sun seemed to be coming out bringing an orange glow to the world. Seth got out of the car leaving me on my own while he walked into the building to check to see if everything was on schedule. Talking to Seth like this was always nice especially since I have only spoken to him through texting or the occasional facetime. It made me think of the past few years and how much we both have changed.

Seth seemed to have grown more; he became more muscular now and had a small amount of stubble which I constantly teased him about. But seeing how much he changed made me reflect on myself. I was still on the shorter side but did grow a couple of inches since highschool. And according to Xion seemed to have a glow about me just being happy more often. Which she wasn't wrong on, I just didn't tell her why. 

About 8 months ago I was starting my sophomore year of college when someone I would never expect to call me. When I picked up that phone I could never forget that conversation no matter how long ago it was.   
“Hey Emma! I know we haven't talked in awhile but I was wondering if you wanted to get some coffee some time.” he said  
I was confused on why he wanted to get coffee, we talked in highschool but not like we were best friends.  
“I mean I guess. Is there something wrong. OMG! Did someone get hurt! Is it someone I know? I mean it has to be someone I know because you're contacting me. It must be serious if you want to meet. Is it Seth! Wait no it can't be him I just talked to him. So who got hurt….”   
“Emma calm down! No one got hurt, it's actually I wanted to ask you out. Like on a date.”  
I was confused. A date did I hear that correctly.   
“A date?” I asked confused  
“Yeah, a date.” He said. I could practically feel the anxiety coming from the phone. I thought for a moment. I mean it's not like I never liked him but I just never thought it would be more than a crush. But I guess it wouldn't hurt to do just one date, if anything happened I could just pretend it never happened.  
“Sure.” I replied finally  
“Really!” he sounded very surprised and excited   
“Yeah. Why not. Hows tomorrow at 5.”  
“Sounds Great! I'll see you tomorrow then Emma.”  
“See you tomorrow Roy.”  
I hung up the phone with a smile on my face. 

The door slammed, startling me out of my memory.I turned and saw Seth get into the car he was rubbing his hands to get them warm from the cool air of the outside. I smiled at him and asked him.  
“Everything ok?.”  
“Everythings peachy. All ready to go now we just have to wait for everyone to arrive. Any updates on everyone?”   
I looked down at my phone and saw that I had some messages.  
“Xion says that her Jazzy, Ashely, Hayden and Mal should be here in 5 minutes. Jamie says that her Izzy, Bri, Athena and Alyssa will be here in 10. And no response from anyone else.”  
“What about Roy?”  
“I talked to him last night and he said he would ride with Bryan but I am not sure when they are gonna get here.”

It got quiet after that. I turned to the outside world again seeing that the sky seemed to be turning a pink color now. I reached over and opened my door and was met with the cool salty air from the outside. I got out of the car and shut it. My legs were sore from the drive over and it felt good to stretch them out. As I was stretching a car pulled in and parked two parking spots away from me. I walked over when the door opened and out came Jazzy, Xion and Ashley. I smiled at them and waved.

From the passenger seat out came Malachi seeming to be arguing with the driver.   
“Does it ever occur to you that I want to live to see the next day!” He shouted.   
“No Mal it never occured to me that you would ever want to see another day.” Hayden said sarcastically as he was getting out of the driver's seat.  
“Oh don't be sassy to me you communist!” Mal shouted back  
“If you don't like my driving so much then why did you guys make me drive in the first place.”   
“Like I had a choice.”  
“Mal you did have a choice, you had the deciding vote on who was going to drive and you chose Hayden.” Jazzy said with a sigh as if she had heard this argument over and over again.  
“No one asked you your opinion Jazzy.”   
Jazzy just sighed before giving me a hug.  
“So just like old times. They still argue.” I said.   
“Yep it's as if nothing has changed.” Xion said as she brought me in for a hug of her own.

I smiled at them, as if something never changed. We all knew that was a lie everything in the world changed. I had the sudden urge to just spill my heart out and tell them all right then and there that i was dating Roy. But I stopped myself knowing that I needed to talk to Roy to see if he was ok with them knowing. I mean I knew he was ok. It was me who suggested that we stay a secret for so long but now all I could think of was how betrayed they would all feel when I tell them that I've been dating him for 8 months. So I just smiled at them and told them how much I missed them. 

I saw Seth approach everyone smiling before they all tackled him. I got to see the group at least twice a month (except Xion who was also in a college out of state) but Seth since going to school in New York he didn't see anyone for months at a time. 

“I can't believe you rented the entire Catalina Island for us for a week.” Hayden said to Seth  
“Not the entire island, just one of the camps. We will have the entire place to ourselves though.” Seth replied nonchalantly.   
“Still man, it's pretty impressive how did you manage to swing all this?”   
I looked at Seth curious I knew the answer to the question. Seth's boyfriend, Lance, well his Dad payed for a big chunk of the trip since he made Lance so happy that he wanted to give something back in return. I was gong to interject for an excuse on Seth's behalf so that he didn't have to explain his secret-relationships before he answered himself.   
“Oh, I had some extra money from my grant for next semester and decided to splurge on my friends.” Seth replied quickly and calmly. He probably thought of that excuse before he got here.

As everyone started talking more cars started to fill the parking lot as the rest of Ib seemed to be showing up. I started hugging, waving and smiling at many people. When Roy arrived I gave him a hug that was a little tighter than the ones I gave the rest of everyone. 

By the time everyone arrived the sun was up. I took out my phone and the time read 6:15. I walked to the car to go get my bags when I heard someone behind me. I turned around and saw Roy smiling at me.I don't know if God hated me or something but Roys smile mixed with the sun right behind his head made him look so goddamn cute that it was unfair to anyone else. 

“Hey there.” I said to him  
“Hey. I wanted to talk to you if that's ok.”  
“Of course.” I smiled at him  
“Well we have been dating for awhile now and no one knows about us yet except for Seth. Which I totally understand and all. But I was wondering if you wanted to go public.”  
I was shocked. It was just that I wanted to ask him the same exact thing.  
“Yes.” I replied after a moment of shock  
“Really?” He seemed surprised by my answer.  
“Yeah I think we have waited long enough and it will be great. We can tell everyone tonight.”  
“Or I could just kiss you right here and everyone would know.” He stepped closer to me staring at me with those eyes.   
I stared dazed and weighed the options on one hand. I wanted the right setting and control of the environment of which I told everyone. On the other hand I got to kiss my boyfriend right now. No we need to wait, my friends deserve to be told the right way rather than this way no matter how tempting it is.   
I put my finger to his lips and said “We will tell them tonight then you can kiss me all you want.”  
I was surprised at how smooth that came out.   
“Am I interrupting something.” Someone said behind Roy  
We both jumped making sure there was a couple feet in between us. I turned to the figure and saw Seth smirking at the both of us.   
“Sorry to startle you both but I kind of need my suitcase before you two starting making out.” He walked past us and reached into the car and grabbed a black suitcase marked DisneyWorld.   
I slapped his arm when he was next to me.   
“Ow what was that for.”   
“That was for scaring the shit out of me and thinking I just outed myself in front of everyone with my boyfriend.”  
“Sorry sweetie but I’m afraid you are already out to everyone here. I mean gayness wise.”  
“This is no time for gay jokes.”  
“It’s only payback for this morning. Hey Roy” Seth said, turning to the guy who was smiling at the two of us arguing.   
“Hey Seth, how is Caitlin and Lance?”  
“They are good. Thanks for asking and from what I hear you two are going strong.” I smiled while they both continued to talk. Seth let me tell Roy about his relationship status as a test run on what people would think if it. I was glad he let me tell Roy though I didn’t want there to be any secrets between us. 

I gathered the rest of the bags and put them next to the car. Roy headed back to his car and gathered his own bags. 

“OK, EVERYONE OUR BOAT IS RIGHT TO THE LEFT AND WE NEED TO START LOADING UP OR WE WILL BE LATE. SO EVERYONE START LOADING UP WE GOT A 2 HOUR RIDE IN FRONT OF US!” Seth shouted using his mom voice on everyone. 

I grabbed my bags and started to head to the boat. Once I put my bags in the storage area I walked over to the second layer of the deck where I could choose to be in a lounge area or the outside deck. I decided to go to the lounge area for now and sat down. As more people came in they all seemed to have the same idea as i did. Soon the lounge was filled with everyone all laying or sitting in various positions ready to pass out.

Next to me was Xion and Roy. I layed on Xion's shoulder not wanting to draw attention if I layed on Roy. I heard a rumble and the boat shook signaling that the boat was finally moving. I closed my eyes determined to get some sleep before the day we had in front of us. 

I dreamt that I was in some type of glass tank. Everything was black around me but I could hear a faint breathing that seemed to be coming from all angles. Suddenly my feet were freezing and as I looked down I saw that the tank seemed to be filling with water. I started to panic pounding on the glass with my fists but nothing seemed to happen. The water was filling up at a rapid rate and I didn’t know what to do. I started screaming for everyone but especially Roy hoping that someone would come for me. When the water reached the top where my head finally went under the water I screamed. But only bubbles came from my mouth.Then I heard a voice and for some reason I know it was the same person as the one who was breathing all around me. 

“It’s all your fault.” They said “I would be alive if it wasn’t for you.”   
From out of the shadows came the figure of a girl, her skin pale, lips blue, brown hair and a glassy look in her eyes. I recognized her but it couldn’t be she can't be alive she died. 

I woke up with a start gasping for breath. I looked around me and everyone was still asleep. I slowly got up and walked onto the open deck breathing in the ocean air. Suddenly two hands grabbed onto me and wrapped their arms around me. 

“Are you ok?” Roy said from behind me holding me a bit closer.   
“Yeah just a nightmare.” I said leaning back into him.  
“Was it the same one?”  
I hesitated but responded with a small nod. He squeezed me a bit tighter and kissed my forehead.   
“It’s almost been a year, that's probably why the nightmares are getting worse again. But Emma you know her death wasn’t your fault right?”  
I didn’t respond to him.   
“Emma, look at me.” I turned to him, my face merely inches from his. “You can not blame yourself for her death. It was no one's fault but that drunk driver who hit you guys.”   
Instead of responding to him I leaned into him and connected our lips. I could kiss him forever if I could my skin cold against his warm lips balancing each other out like fire and ice.   
When the kiss was broken I turned back to the ocean and saw that the island was pretty close.   
“We should wake everyone up. We’re here.”

We slowly gathered everyone awake and collecting our bags. Seth came up behind me leaning down and whispered in my ear.  
“I see you and Roy were up pretty early did you guys find a nice secluded place and….” I elbowed him in the stomach not letting him finish that sentence. But Seth just laughed and started heading in front of the crowd.

Seth turned to everyone and smiled.  
“Everyone, it's good to see all of you. It’s been 3 years since we started this tradition and I for one am so glad we continued it. As you all know we have this entire camp for one full week all to ourselves. There are plenty of cabins so you can bunk with 2-5 people depending on how many people you want to share a room with. Now I know it's early but take the time to settle in and explore the land. Eat whenever you want we will have dinner together at 7pm. Also you shouldn’t have service. Yes I know it sucks but just think you have an entire island to ourselves so enjoy the time away from everyone” 

The crowd started talking about who would bunk with who. Xion came up to me a moment later and said,  
“You want to bunk with Jazzy, Ashley and me?”   
“Sorry but I am bunking with Seth.” That was a lie Seth and I said we would bunk with each other. But since I planned on telling everyone about Roy and I we made a deal that once we told everyone Roy and Seth would switch rooms. Seth being in Roys old room with Hayden and Roy being able to stay the night with me.   
“Oh so since when is that a thing?” I stared at her thinking she was talking about Roy when I realized she was talking about Seth.  
“Seth? Umm never we aren’t together.” I replied  
“Mhmmm.” She said with a smile then walked away.

I was confused. I guess that's normal for people to think Seth and I were together. It wasn't the first time that we were questioned about it. But we both know that we just are too comfortable with one another and both are in different relationships at the moment. 

I grabbed my bag and started down the ramp of the boat.I saw Seth in the crowd and hurried to his side following him to our cabin. Once we reached there we put our bags down and I started to unpack. 

Our room was a bit small, just two beds on opposite sides of one another and then two nightstands with drawers for our clothes. Seth didn’t bother unpacking going straight to lay down in bed. I looked at him and laughed before asking.

“You don’t want to explore the area before taking a nap?”  
“No, I've been here before I already know where everything is.” He said turning to me now laying on his side.  
I looked at him confused. “When did you come here?”  
He smiled and replied “Spring break Lance took me here with his family for two weeks.”   
“Was this before Caitlin?”  
“Yeah when it was just the two of us. Not that I’m not glad I have Caitlin in my life she is wonderful and I love her just as much as Lance.” He said, starting to panic.  
“Hey, it's ok. I know you love both of them. I was just asking to get a timeline of when you came here.”  
Seth seemed to relax at that.   
I continued to unpack my clothes when I saw a piece of paper on the floor. I went to pick it up when suddenly Seth got up and grabbed it out of my hands and stuffed it into his pocket.   
“What’s that?” I asked him.   
“Nothing.” He replied quickly which only piqued my curiosity but I let it go not wanting to press him on whatever it was. 

I finished unpacking when I went to lay down on my bed. As soon as I layed down the world turned black. 

I woke up and looked around. It was dark outside so I must have been asleep for quite awhile. I looked across the room when I saw Seth was gone, but on his bed was a piece of paper. Taking it as a note that was left for me I went to pick it up. When I grabbed it I realized that it was the paper Seth didn’t want me to see. I didn’t want to intrude on Seth's privacy but decided one peak wouldn’t hurt. I opened up the paper and saw that two sentences were written. 

Stay Away From Emma!   
Meet in cafeteria at 6

I turned to the clock and it read 6:05. I was so confused why Seth was being threatened and told to meet someone up. Why was he being told to stay away from me. When I looked closer I recognized the handwriting and was even more confused. I decided to go to the cafeteria and see for myself this meeting. I marched out of my room determined to tell these two people off for something I didn’t even know what was going on and why. 

I saw the cafeteria, a large log building with high ceilings and entered slamming the door behind me. But as I looked around I didn’t see anyone there. Was I too early? No, the note said 6 and I woke up after that. Was the meeting already over? Before I could think of an answer I heard a loud creaking sound come from above me. 

I looked up and saw something that I will never get out of my mind. Hanging from the ceiling on a long piece of rope was a body. Behind the body was red letters seeming to paint the ceiling was a single sentence saying:

One Down

The body just swung and I realized that I knew who the person was. My knees felt weak and I collapsed to the floor. The body was Seth. I started screaming and sobbing yelling for anyone to come. 

Seth was dead. No! Seth was murdered. And from what the sentence written this was only the beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow so a lot happened. What happened with Emma what girl died with her. Who threatened Seth. Who murdered Seth? All will be revealed in time.


	3. Rena

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short chapter. Sorry but Ive been busy Ill try and update as fast as I can

It was weird being back. Seeing all the people from my past that I normally wouldn’t see, it was a nostalgic feeling. But it didn’t help me with my decision. What decision would that be? Well I wanted to go to a different school. I have for a while but something has been stopping me or some people.

It wasn’t my family though they were ok with me finding my own path. But it's these people that have been with me from day 1 and I know they would be fine with me achieving my dreams. The real problem was I was willing to go and be without them. Without support and love and the ones who have helped me. 

So I need to find out what would happen if I left. And what better way to do that then ask someone who has been doing it for a long time and that I am close with, Seth. That’s what I’m going to do, go ask him.

At least that was my plan. My plan before Kristen and Emma told me that they were gonna go on a hike till dinner. Before I convinced myself to ask Seth at dinner. Before I told myself I would make the decision by the time I went to bed. Before I heard the scream for help.

That scream high pitched and wavering like they were about to lose it. Everyone within the area must have heard it. I ran from my room towards the noise and spotted Jamie and Izzy doing the same thing. 

We located the screams coming from the cafeteria and went inside. The first thing I noticed was Emma. She was being held by Xion and Jazzy, all of them were crying, not caring who saw them. I looked at them confused when I looked around and saw what happened. 

Hayden and Malachi were grabbing him from the ceiling when I recognized him. His skin was pale and he had a scratch across his cheek. I gasped as they carried him and set him on one of the tables. 

“Wha…. H-how did this happen?” I asked, barely able to get a sentence out.  
“We aren’t sure we just found him like this with Emma screaming and crying.” Bryan said, his face blank like he didn’t know what to feel and how to show it.  
Emma stood up at that moment still being held by Xion and Jazzy. She was sniffling and taking pauses but said “I came into here… cause he left me a note saying to meet him here at 6…” she looked around and her eyes seemed to settle on Roy giving him a questioning glare. Before she continued “when i got inside i found him this way.”   
“So we basically know nothing.” Zoe said   
“We do know one thing.” Ethan said walking forward.  
“What’s that?” Hayden said his eyes still focused on the body of his friend.  
“We know that he must have been killed by someone on this trip.” Ethan responded   
“What! Why would you say that. This could have been a suicide.” Zoe countered  
“NO!” Emma shouted causing Ethan and Zoe to quiet down “this wasn’t suicide. One Seth wasn’t depressed at least now he wasn’t. He was actually the happiest I’ve seen him in awhile.” Zoe opened her mouth but Emma just stared her down with a deep glare causing Zoe to shut up. Emma continued “Seth was in a relationship and his plan was to tell all of you tonight at dinner.” She looked down, “But I guess i'll have to tell them that he isn’t coming back.”  
“Wait you said them?” Hayden said, finally taking his eyes off of Seth.  
“Yeah them. Their names are Caitlin and Lance, he was in a polymorous relationship. And honestly Seth never seemed to be happier than when he talked about them or was with them.”

Emma began to sob again. Seeming to realize that she would have to tell them that Seth was gone. 

“That just proves my point more. No one else is on this island but us so one of us has to be the one to kill him.” Ethan said  
“Of course your the one to suggest murder Ethan.” Malachi said  
“Excuse for just putting the simple clues into place plus according to the message on the ceiling this is the only first of many.” 

I looked around to see everyone. I saw Roy to be having a deep in thought look while staring at Emma. Xion looked like she was about to break down any minute but wanted to keep it together. Alyssa looked grim and ready to kill. Then I noticed we were two people short.

“Where’s Emma and Kristen?” I asked  
“Emma’s over there.” Hayden pointed towards Emma C  
“No, not her. Emma L.” I responded

Everyone looked around but it seemed that the two seemed to just be gone. My mind was racing toward any explanation that was provided. They said they were going on a hike but it's getting late. Could they be the ones who did this? No they cant do it they liked Seth plus they are too innocent for murder. But isn’t everyone else? Who would kill Seth? No one had a grudge against him, Right? All of this was racing in my mind when I heard Bryan say.

“We need to go after them, they could be in danger.”   
“Well we need to get help.” Zoe said  
“Guys it's simple we could just split up and do both things.” Hayden said  
“Excuse me colonizer but that’s how every horror movie goes badly.” Mal said  
“Well this isn’t a horror movie. If you haven’t noticed.” Alyssa said   
“So it's settled we have two teams one searches for Kristen and Emma L the other goes to the mainland and gets help.” I said  
“Well I saw a boat on the beach when I was exploring so we can take that.” Bryan said “ So whoever wants to get help or just get off this island just follow me.”

Bryan walked out of the room where James, Azam, Robert, Connor, Alex and Zoe all followed him. 

“What do we do with the body.” Roy said  
“Leave him there. When the cops come they are gonna want to examine them.” Xion suggested.   
“In that case we need to break up in groups of two and look for Emma and Kristen.” I said

Everyone seemed to get into groups. Malachi with Jazzy. Hayden with Xion. Athena with Bri. Roy with Emma. Ashley with Bobby. Izzy with Jamie. Alyssa with Colin. I was the odd one out so I went to go follow a group so that I wouldn’t be alone. All the groups were heading towards the forest except for one, Roy and Emma. They seemed to be going towards one of the rooms, curious I decided to follow them. When i slowly approached i made sure to keep a distance to make sure that they didn’t know that i was following them. I saw them enter a room that I presumed to be Emma’s. When I approached the door a few moments later I put my ear to the door and heard shouting. 

“I know you did it! I know you killed Seth!” Emma said  
Wait what. Roy killed Seth. Why would he do that? I thought they were friends.  
“You don’t know what you're talking about.” Roy responded  
“Huh, I don’t know what I am talking about. Well then what is this?”  
I couldn’t see what she was referring to since the door was closed and it was way too risky to try and open the door.  
“How did you find that.”  
“So you admit it. You wrote this. You threatened Seth and told him to get away from me. Why!”  
I heard Roy sigh then respond “I didn’t want you two to be close because I knew he would try and take you from me.”  
“What?! Take me from you. What are you talking about? Seth was in a committed relationship with two people for fucks sake.”  
“Exactly! So what is stopping him from taking in another and that person being you.”  
“Seth and I were only friends; we didn’t like each other that way.”  
“Pfft just friends really? Cause I've seen you two together and you two definitely don’t act just like two buddies hanging out.”   
“That’s because I am comfortable with him and we both know that anything that happened like cuddling or hand holding didn’t mean anything. Roy I love you. Or at least loved you.”  
I was shocked from this it meant that Emma and Roy were a thing like a legit thing. I felt bad for intruding on this moment but only for a moment for if what i heard is right then that means Roy killed Seth out of jealousy.  
“So that’s why you killed him. Because we are too close for your comfort. Excuse me but I have known most of the people on this trip longer than I have known you.”  
“I didn’t kill Seth.” Roy said quietly   
“You didn’t kill him. Well then explain to me the dead body of one of the closest people to me.”  
“I didn’t kill him. I was just threatening him and told him to meet me at 6 but when i got there I saw that he was dead already. That’s when I heard the door open and I ran into the kitchen. That’s when you walked in.”

This was unbelievable; his story didn’t make sense. He didn’t have an alibi and also had a motive. I had to tell the rest of the group but how? They were all looking for Emma and Kristen. Wait if Roy killed Seth then where is Emma and Kristen. He has a motive for one but not all of them. So what's happening and who really did this? The message on the ceiling came to me   
One down. Which means that this won't be the last death. 

As I was thinking, I left the door of Emma's room and went outside. I saw the ocean and a tiny dot which I assumed to be the boat going off to get help. 

Suddenly that one little dot turned orange and red. For the boat was gone it exploded. I gasped. All those people, all my friends, they are just gone. I didn’t know what to do. Not only were all of those people dead James, Robert, Connor, Alex, Bryan and Zoe. But our hope of getting help died with them. 

I turned and saw Emma and Roy both in shock. They must have seen the boat like I did. I looked at Roy and I realized he never left anyone’s side so how did he get the boat to blow up. That’s when I saw a small red dot on Roys chest. He didn’t seem to notice and neither did Emma. I screamed at him at the same time getting up and running towards him. I was pointing at his chest trying to get him to see the dot but he just looked back at me confused. I finally pushed him out of the way and a shot rang in the air. 

I felt light. I expected to feel pressure or something but I only felt like I was flying. I opened my eyes and looked around and saw that I was laying on the floor and was in Emma's arms. I wondered if that’s what flying felt like the same as falling. But the lightness in my body made me think clearer and I could put all the pieces together. Roy went to meet Seth but found him dead. Someone got the boat to blow up making no one able to get help. Then someone was about to shoot Roy. One thing made it all clear. Seth's death wasn’t meant to be and was actually someone else that was supposed to die.

I coughed up and saw some red spots go onto Emma. I used the last of my strength to lean into Emma's ear. She leaned down to meet me and put her ear next to my mouth. 

“Roy… is.. the..target.” I coughed and looked at Emma hoping she would understand and be able to put the rest of the pieces together. I heard Emma talking but they were so faint I couldn’t make out what she was saying. I closed my eyes for the last time and the world went black and all I felt was light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sad. Hope everyone liked it and I’ll see you next time


	4. Hayden

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we be doing shorter chapters now

I don’t understand what is going on. I don’t get how this all started. This morning everything was going great. I got to reunite with some of the best friends I have ever had in my life, then later that night we find Seth dead, then I see the explosion from inside the forest looking for two of my missing friends, the explosion means even more people are dead and now I see Rena clinging to life in Emma’s arms after being shot. 

When the explosion went off Mal and I raced back towards the cafeteria but not even moments later we heard a gunshot in the opposite direction of the cafeteria. When we found the source of that gunshot I found Emma on her knees with Rena laying on top of her. Emma was crying and next to them was Roy his hand over his mouth and tears streaming down his face. Then Roy turned around and ran straight into the woods. 

Before I could think of running after Roy I heard a groan come from Rena. She’s alive! I thought wait how is she alive? I approached her slowly and crouched next to Emma who was still clutching onto Rena like a lifeline. Emma turned to me, tears glistening in her eyes. I looked at her with a sympathetic look she must have been through a lot today. We all have been through a lot today. 

I put my arms out and held them there. Emma looked at me intently for a second and then nodded seeming to understand what I was trying to convey. She then moved Rena over and I hooked my arms under her and then lifted. I shuffled to my feet with Rena now in my arms and then I started to walk towards the rooms.

Before I entered I looked around me and saw the faces of who came so far. Emma was now being held by Malachi still crying. Then off in the distance I saw Ethan without anyone and I realized Ethan was missing when we picked partners and he also didn’t go to the boat so where has he been this whole time? 

When i entered a room finally I don t know who’s it was but at this point I didn’t care. I placed Rena on one of the beds and then started searching for where the bullet struck her. I saw there was a blood stain on the front of her sweater near the bottom of her torso. When I lifted her I saw that she had a similar blood spot on the back of her. I realized that the bulletin must have gone right through her lucky feat for anyone, especially if she was the target. I grabbed blankets from a nearby bed and made a bandage across her torso by ripping the material and then tying it around her so the bleeding would not continue. I was hoping that this was enough and that she would make it but these next few minutes would be crucial for her. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I walked out of the room with a frown settled on my face. When i looked up to face everyone I saw that more people had gathered. It seemed like all the search parties came back and from the looks of it they were unsuccessful. All of the faces turned to me as they saw me approaching all of them a grim look on their face but seemed to be hoping for a miracle.

“Is she ok?” Athena asked.

I shook my head side to side, looking down at the ground. I heard a couple of gasps and some sniffles. When I looked up again everyone seemed to be in some sort of grief or denial. 

“How?” Alyssa demanded.  
“I don’t know specifics but she was shot. When I looked over at her I saw the bullet went through her which is pretty lucky. So I got a blanket and wrapped around her as a makeshift bandage. However, it seemed like she lost too much blood and the bandage didn’t seem to help her. She died a couple minutes after that.” I responded gravely.   
“She told me something before she passed out.” I perked up at that and turned to Emma who now held everyone’s attention.  
“Well Roy and I were talking and when we came out we saw the boat explode. Rena turned to us and started shouting at Roy but we were in such a state of shock we didn’t know what to do so Rena pushed Roy out of the way and then we heard the shot. But before she passed out she told me that Roy was the target.”  
“That would make sense.” Everyone turned to the voice and saw Ethan.  
I looked at him sharply still wondering where he was this entire time.   
Ethan continued “If Roy was the target that would explain why Rena got hurt and if they didn’t want their plan to get ruined then they must have sabotaged the boat.”  
I thought about it but something still didn’t make sense.   
“What about Seth then why did he die if Roy was the target?” I asked  
“Seth and Roy were supposed to meet before dinner.” Emma interjected  
“So that means the killer must have known about this meeting and was going to to kill Roy but found Seth instead.” Ethan said as if everything was coming together for him.   
“So, now what we still don’t know who the killer is and why they are going after Roy.” Jamie said  
“Well I for one don’t think we should split up anymore. The last time we did that too many people were killed.” Mal said and everyone nodded in agreement.  
“So what do we do?” I asked   
“Well we need to find out who the killer is and it has to be one of us because no one else is alive. But we also still need to find out what happened to the Emma and Kristen. And we need to find Roy if he really is the target” Ethan said  
“I think the best thing we can do is hope they can find their own way home while we figure out who the killer is.” Izzy stepped up and said 

Everyone seemed a bit unsettled on the idea and so did I. But if its the only way to put a stop to this once and for all then we need to take it. 

We all started to walk in a silent agreement towards the campfires near the beach. Ethan got the flame started on the fire while everyone took a seat around it. I looked around at everyone, wondering what would drive someone to kill people they have known for so long. 

We sat in silence for awhile no one knowing where to start. I looked into the distance at the water. I could faintly hear Emma talking about what we already know, Ethan joined in interjecting what he thought were the reasons of all this. I always knew Ethan was a bit sketchy he was a good guy but seemed to have some tendencies of threatening people. We all took it more of less of a joke since we were in high school and naive for our time. But looking back onto it now it seemed like his joking wasn’t very much of a joke. Ethan did know Seth the longest so what of he was the one to kill him. Also he was missing during the whole Rena and Roy debacle so he could have tried to kill him. And when people were starting to get born his trail he threw the whole it was Roy all along maybe to cover his own tracks and motives and throw it off his trail. The more I thought about it the more it seemed like everything was pointing to Ethan being the killer. 

I continued to think and stare into the ocean when I saw something strange. It seemed like something was floating ot in the water. I shook my head and looked closer but it was so dark out it must have been just a log or something. I turned to the fire concerned that my eyes were playing tricks for staring into one spot for too long. 

“HAYDEN!” Colin yelled  
I shook out of my thoughts and looked up. Everyone was staring at me as if expecting me to say something.  
“What?” I asked confused  
Izzy just huffed before saying “We asked on what you think is happening or anything to add on what happened.”  
“Well um…” I wondered if I should tell them of what I truly thought or just continue investigating on my own. Seeing as I wasn’t really getting anywhere in my thoughts I decided to tell them. I told them of how Ethan was mysteriously missing during the time and what I believed was really going on.

Everyone started to shuffle away from Ethan seeing my point and start coming to the same conclusion I did. Ethan looked surprised like he didn’t understand why everyone seemed to turn so quickly on him.

“Really guys.. I know we are stressed about everything but do you guys really think its me.” He said   
Suddenly Ethan was tackled by Alyssa who was pining him down to the floor. Her forearm was pressed against Ethans throat and her other arm was pinning his hands above his head.   
“You have 10 seconds to tell us where you were before I start beating the shit out of you.” Alyssa said menacing. I had the sudden urge to spill all the secrets in my life so I couldn’t even fathom what Ethan was feeling at the moment.   
“I-I was going to go on the boat with everyone but Bryan pulled me aside from everyone and said that he thought he heard Emma and Kristen earlier talking about going to a good spot for the sunset. So I went back to the cafeteria and everyone was already gone so I decided to go on my own.”   
“Convenient that the only person who could gauge for you is dead.” Izzy said  
Alyssa pushed on Ethans neck harder at that point.   
“I promise that’s what happened I didn’t do anything else.” Ethan said stuttering.  
“What should we do?” Alyssa asked with gritted teeth.  
Everyone looked around before I stepped up. “We have no way to test if what he is saying is true. I say we put him in a room and lock the door and the problem is solved.”   
Everyone seemed to think for a moment before nodding, well everyone but Emma. 

We took Ethan back to the cabin area, we put him into my room where I locked the door from a key given to me by Seth when we first got our cabins. I turned back to the crowd everyone seemed to look a bit relieved but still stressed. 

“Well now that that’s settled we need to find a way off this island.” I said  
“Maybe if we find the main office here there could be an emergency phone or something.” Emma suggested   
“Well I don’t know if you guys are but I’m starving.” Colin said  
“How can you eat at a time like this?” Jamie said  
“Well I’m sorry but we never ate dinner. And some of us didn’t eat since this morning. So yes I am hungry.” Colin replied   
“Ok then we should get food and some of us should get to the phone.” I said  
“Umm.. what happened to not separating.” Jamie said   
“Well we caught the one responsable for all of these so there shouldn’t be a problem now with separation.” I replied courtly  
“You think we caught the right guy. Ethan could be telling the truth.” Emma said   
Everyone seemed to grow uneasy with that comment. If we were wrong then that means one of us is the killer and that more deaths are on the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not really satisfied with the ending right now but I feel like I didn’t know what to write next. Also I feel like I cold have done more with Hayden but you never know I could do his POV again. Anyways hope you enjoyed


	5. Jamie

I woke up with the morning sun in my eyes. The sun seemed to be just getting up telling me it was early morning. When I got up I remembered the events of last night.

After locking Ethan in a room everyone except Hayden and Emma went to the cafeteria. We moved Seth's body into an empty room and everyone proceeded to get food and eat. My stomach was not in the mood for food but I knew I had to eat something since I hadn’t eaten since that morning. 

I couldn’t understand how everyone had their appetites after all this was going down. We lost so many friends today first Seth then everyone on the boat and then Rena. We had known these people, our friends, for awhile now that I just couldn’t comprehend how everyone was just moving on from their deaths so easily. Maybe it was shock or denial and I just couldn’t wrap my head how everyone was acting so normal. 

I started to think about what would happen when we got back. Emma said she had to tell Seth's boyfriend and girlfriend, I think their names were Caitlin and Vince something like that. But now we had to tell all the families of James, Robert, Alex, Zoe, Rena, Connor and Azam.And we still don’t know what happened to Emma and Kristen and I can only assume the worst now. What would we do for a funeral for all of them? That means we would be to more funerals in one setting than most people in their lives. What would happen once we attended? Would i cry, would i just remember the good times we had?I honestly don’t know what I will do once we are in that position. I am just glad it was over before more people got hurt. WIth Ethan locked up all I want is to get off this island and go home, maybe spend time with Tony or watch some musical with Izzy. 

Emma and Hayden walked into the cafeteria at that moment, looking distressed.

“The phone line has been cut. Most likely Ethan did it while he was missing earlier.” Hayden stated   
“But there is good news.” Emma said “I looked through Seth's belongings and he had a schedule and times of the week and it said that in two days a ship would be coming to drop in food supplies. So we can just wait till then and get the hell of the island.”

Everyone seemed to relax at that comment. But it only made me more worried because once we got to land all this would become reality and not just the feeling of some hazy dream. 

I shook myself out of the memory and got out of bed. I got dressed and when I looked across the room I saw Izzy and Bri were still asleep. I decided that they could use some more rest, so i grabbed a jacket and left the cabin breathing in the fresh air. I started walking on the path towards the beach wanting to see the calming sounds of the waves to ease my anxiety of everything that has been happening. As I approached the beach I saw a figure laying down on the beach,the top half of their body on shore while the other half was still in the water. I rushed forward but stopped when I saw the face of the person, it was Alex. I put my hand over my mouth in astonishment and got On my knees and put two fingers on his neck. His skin was ice cold but I could feel a small pulse.

He’s alive! I couldn’t believe it that means some of the boat people might still be alive. I looked around and saw that no one was around and I couldn’t possibly carry Alex on my own. I took off my jacket and crossed it across Alex’s torso then I grabbed his arms and pulled his body a bit so that his lower half wasn’t in the water.

I then raced off back towards the cabins hoping to find anyone. I couldn't find anyone awake, it must have been too early. I ran back in my cabin and then started to shake Izzy awake. She stirred a bit and then opened one of her eyes then outside seeing the sun still barely up. I heard her mutter something about a rat, the early sun and then Remy.

I shook her again and then said “Izzy, Izzy. Get up now we have a situation.”  
“Nothing is more important than sleep.” She responded   
Bri started to wake up from our talking looking at us blurry eyed.  
“Nothing, really well I thought Alex somehow being alive would be more important. But please go back to sleep.” I sarcastically responded  
Izzy seemed to nod in agreement but then froze.  
“Did you just say Alex was alive?”  
I nodded.  
“Well why didn’t you say so.” She said getting up and starting to get dressed.  
“I-.”   
“Really Jamie I would think you would mention the most important part rather than stalling.”  
I just huffed in response, rolling my eyes. I saw that Bri was also hurrying to get up and dressed after hearing our conversation. 

I led them towards the beach where I left Alex. Bri and Izzy both gasped when they saw him and ran towards his limp body. We then proceeded to carry his body and brought him into the cafeteria and set him down on one of the tables. Izzy sent Bri to go wake everyone up and then told me to get some rags and hot water. 

I ran to the kitchen grabbing onto as many rags as I could and then a pot and started filling it up with warm water. As I looked around the kitchen waiting for the large pot to fill up. I saw a pack of Goldfish which reminded me of how I met my boyfriend Tony.

I was at a grocery store looking for some snacks because Izzy and I were having a party in our apartment. I was kind of going crazy with all the food though grabbing basically every kind of chip that I could see. Once I decided that it was enough I started to walk towards what I thought was the front of the store. The only thing was that I grabbed so many chips that I couldn’t really see. So I ran straight into this guy effectively dropping all of my chips. I quickly got on my knees and started grabbing all of the chips and apologizing to the guy I ran into when I saw the guy also get on his knees and start helping me. 

I looked up at him and honestly I kind of just stared in amazement at him. He was probably about 6’1 with tan skin, raven hair and vibrant blue eyes. After helping to pick up the chips he smiled at me showing me his perfect white teeth and brought his hand out so I could shake it.

“I’m Tony.” He said  
I just snorted in response. He looked at me and frowned. I quickly decided to explain myself.  
“I’m sorry but Tony is just such a white name. Like it's the equivalent of someone naming their child Chad. And well you just don’t look like a Tony.”  
Tony was now smiling at me with those perfect teeth.  
“I would shake your hand but my hands are currently full.” I lifted the bags of chips “But I’m Jamie.”  
“Nice to meet you Jamie. So what's with all the chips?”  
I blushed embarrassed but replied “my roommate and I are having a party to start off our new year in college and I’m on snack duty.”  
“Ahh I see.” He then grabbed a pack of goldfish off the shelf and placed it on my pile of chips.  
“Well no party is complete without some Goldfish.” He said it like it was a known fact in the universe.  
“Well it was nice meeting you Jamie.” He smiled at me  
“You too, Tony.” I said back.  
Tony then walked away and I proceeded to go to the cashier with my chips and packs of Goldfish.

I smiled at the memory and looked at the pot which was only halfway full. I continued to look around the kitchen and saw a pack of Starbucks coffee grounds which reminded me of another memory.

It was about two weeks since I had my encounter with Tony in the grocery store. I was running to my morning class and was running a bit late but I needed some coffee and decided to get some Starbucks. I walked inside and was greeted with the smell of fresh coffee. I waited in line and when I got to the cashier I saw that the guy taking my order was none other than Tony. 

“Hey, Jamie isn’t it?”  
I was startled that he remembered my name. So I just nodded in response.   
“What can I get you?” He said smiling at me with those perfect teeth and his vibrant blue eyes seeming to pierce the depths of my soul. 

I gave him my order and he then went and made my drink. I waited by the counter then hearing him call my name. I grabbed it from him and smiled at him. I then checked the time and saw that it was 7:50, ten minutes from when my class started. I raced out the door and made it to my class barely on time. Once I sit down and started drinking my coffee while my teacher started her lecture I saw that my cup seemed to have something written on it. 

I’m off at 1 if you would want to go out sometime ~ Tony

Under that was a series of numbers that I presumed was his phone number. I blushed in my seat but after some thought I decided it wouldn’t hurt to get more coffee after class.

The trickling water was now overflowing the pot and the sound of it going down the drain startled me out of the memory. I quickly turned off the water and poured a bit of the water out so that when I carried it that it wouldn’t spill onto the floor. I brought it out to Izzy where she started placing the rags in the water and then placing it onto Alex's skin so that he could warm up. After a few minutes I placed two fingers on his neck and saw that his pulse was rising steadily, I sighed in relief glad I wasn’t going to lose another one of my friends. 

About 15 minutes later everyone seemed to get up and gather into the room. The people seemed to all be in different phases of shock and hope. 

“We need to wake up.” Malachi said  
“He needs rest.” Izzy stated flatly  
“Mal is right. We don’t know if there are any other survivors and Alex might know how to find them.” Alyssa said  
Izzy nodded seeming to agree with that point. She shook Alex and he began to stir slightly, Izzy shook him a bit harder and then Alex started to slowly open his eyes.  
“Huh.. wh-where am I.” He said  
“Alex. What’s the last thing you remember?” Izzy asked softly  
“Umm… we were going to go get help. But something was off with the boat after it started we couldn’t control it. Everyone started to panic trying to regain control of the boat but it seemed like someone messed with the controls. I told everyone to jump from the boat but James thought he could get the controls to work. But we were starting to get too far from shore so I jumped off and then everything went black.”   
“The boat exploded probably after you jumped off. Did anyone else survive?”   
“That would explain what happened. I don’t think anyone jumped off after me they all thought James was gonna get control of the boat.”   
Everyone looked down at that, they seemed to get hope that everyone they thought was lost was alive. Alex looked around at everyone.   
“Where’s Ethan, Rena and Bryan?” He asked  
“Rena died shortly after the boat exploded by a gunshot, it's a long story. We think that Ethan is the killer so we locked him up. Wait did you say Bryan wasn’t he on the boat?” Hayden said  
“No, Bryan showed us the boat then said he needed to go help Ethan and walked off towards the forest.”  
“Wait if that’s true then Bryan has been alive this whole time.” Emma said astonished  
“Then that means…” Emma stammered before Alyssa continued  
“We could have the wrong guy. Which means the killer is still out there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot happened in this chapter. Hope everyone enjoyed it.


	6. Bobby

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait I’ve been doing school and trying to get a job at the same time. 
> 
> Also major Warning on blood in this chapter

I was mad. No scratch that I was furious. We locked up the wrong guy, just our luck. Not only a wrong guy but someone who if we just communicated with properly and actually believed him wouldn’t be locked in a cabin across camp. As a group we decided to lock up one of our own because we thought he killed people close to us, oh the stuff we do in anger. I can say for sure that after all of this I hope to never see anyone from IB again. We were supposed to be a family isn’t that what Seth always called us in school. We weren’t as competitive as the other classes, while they fell apart we grew stronger with one another, if we hung out there ended up being about 15 kids in total and not everyone invited would show up cause we were a family. It’s fitting that Seth died first, for I know if he saw how we are, how we are acting at the moment he’d be ashamed. He was one of the good ones along with Rena and all the others, because we are a family.

Correction were a family.

The way we are now that’s no family. Family doesn’t lock up and accuse one of their own. Family doesn’t kill one of their own. Family sticks together and loves each other through the ups and the downs. They are always there. You find your family by seeing who sticks and people are always saying how they can’t find the people who stick but I no We were lucky to find a big group that became family. Maybe it was that we were stuck with one another for 4 years or that we had to talk to one another for assignments, maybe it was the joint thought of how fucking hard life is and the lack of sleep we shared but in the end we were a Family. So where did it all go wrong? What drove someone like Bryan into killing not one but multiple people? Into killing his family?

“Maybe it's not Bryan?” Hayden said with his hand on his chin like he was in deep thought.

Not him then who else would it be? No, it has to be him if it's not him then who is it one of us again. We are going to basically be at square one again blaming one another. I'm pretty sure Alyssa was ready to just lock everyone up until the boat arrived tomorrow by the way she was looking at everyone. 

“What do you mean not Bryan?” Ashley asked. She had a look of confusion on her as if she was wondering if all this was real or not.   
“What if Ethan killed Bryan?”   
“That doesn’t make sense why would he kill Bryan?”  
“I don’t know why he would kill any of us?”  
“We know that answer. At least a part of it, the target is Roy if that’s true then all the murders have been because Roy was supposed to be at those moments.”  
That still bugged me, why would anyone be after Roy. If this is truly Bryan or Ethan or whoever why target Roy what does he have to do with this. But there are still two people who don’t correlate to that theory.  
“What about Emma and Kristen? They were nowhere near Roy and they still are missing.” I spoke up  
“Exactly missing what if they are just being held somewhere and all other deaths were an accident.” Hayden defended   
“I don’t think Seth’s body hanging 15 feet in the air with a large written “One down” was an accident Hayden. If anything it sounds like you defended the killer.”  
Hayden seemed to shut up at that. I smiled smugly cause I won the argument.  
“Guys why don’t we just go talk to Ethan.” Emma said  
I looked around and everyone seemed to agree that a little chat with Ethan “The Supposed Killer” was in order.

We decided to all go together. No one wanted to be away from the group after everything that has happened. But we never expected to find what we did.

Ethan was still in the cabin; however, it wasn’t like we expected. He was lying on the bed, the sheets thrown carelessly off. His body was lifeless and blood was oozing from his head and back. His brace on the floor covered with the scarlet coating. The white bedsheets had soaked up what would have been puddles of blood. The sheet was darkening as more blood dripped down. 

The cabin was dark but his face could still be seen with a little light. It was smashed, his nose was broken into two, his eyes sunken further into his face, and his mouth was covered in blood. Blue and purple covered his face as welts started to form. With a closer look, the bottom half of his nose had gone to the right while the upper half stayed straight. His front teeth were hanging on by a tiny thread of his gums. His bottom teeth were lost in the waterfall of blood.

Looking down further onto the bed, Ethan’s body was a mess. His arm was broken, a piece of the bone was sticking out like it was stabbed into his arm. Blood was covering the lower half and more was dripping from the bone. He had a large piece of the wood wall lodge into his chest. It seemed to come from the back of the cabin. Parts of wood were laying down on his chest while smaller pieces were stabbed through. The large piece was circled by the miniature pieces. The blood from the wounds ran down his body as well as to the sides of the mattress.

Some flies had rushed into the room when the door was opened. They were now resting on his face. Gagging noises could be heard throughout the group as people began to leave. If someone threw up, I wouldn’t have been surprised. This wasn’t a sight we were supposed to see, any of us. Whoever the murderer was, they weren’t right in the head. Emma cried out and someone was consoling her. She seemed close to him. She was the only person who believed he was innocent and she was right. Guilt and melancholy covered the group. This was our fault. We left him alone and it led to his death and no step closer to the killer.

My body felt numb. I had looked like most of us but I stayed outside. I quickly moved away from the door. Some people went inside while others started to leave. I followed them, I don’t know where they were going but they didn’t either. We all just wanted to get away from all of this. The amount of death experienced here was too much. Someone, a friend, wanted all of us dead with no known explanation and we’re all just sitting ducks, Ethan being the example.

“Are... are they going to move his body?” Jazzy asked as she walked past me. “I don’t know,” Ashley responded. “I don’t… Can they even move the body when it’s like that? It’s…” She didn’t finish her sentence but we all knew what she was thinking. Imagine moving a friend’s dead body and getting their blood all over you. It would just stain your clothes but the images from it would be scarring. I don’t know how much therapy we’ll need after this. That is if it’s possible to escape… 

I ended up in the dining hall with everyone else. I sat at one of the tables, staring straight in front of me. People did the same and sniffles could be heard. I don’t know what we were doing here but it seemed like the right thing to do. There’s been so many deaths and yet we’ve barely got to sit down and think about it. The rush of emotions hit everyone and all we could do was wait for the people from the cabin to return.

When they returned I continued to stare at the wall once again questioning how people can do this to Family but at this point my so-called family was in shambles. 

Suddenly a loud bang was heard across the room. I jumped at the sound but turned to the left where the sound originated from. I saw Alyssa at the head of the table looking angry in her hand was a ripped piece of paper but some of it looked as if it was red. I almost threw up right there and then because that red was soaked up with the blood of Ethans dead corpse. 

“This was found on the pillow in Ethan's room.” Alyssa said, well not so much as said as she screamed at us.   
Alyssa put down the paper and gave it to Athena who looked at it for a moment then passed it on.  
“We think it's a message.”   
“A message of what?” Bri asked, passing the paper to Malachi.  
“I’m not sure but we think it was targeting someone here. Maybe meant for Roy. If anyone knows something about the article we may find out the reason for this whole nightmare.”  
As the paper was passed down I observed the group's faces. Malachi looked like he was sad and contemplating looking straight at the table. Jamie looked nervous as she gave the paper to Izzy who’s face I could not read. I saw Hayden, Xion and Ashley constantly looking to the person next to me, Emma. When Emma got it she gasped and threw the paper on the table with her hand over her mouth. 

I snatched the paper from the table and saw that it was a newspaper article. All that was legible was the bold title of a news article. 

Drunken Driver Kills 19-year Old Girl With Another In Critical Condition

I then looked at Emma who had her hand on her mouth shaking her head and whispering something to herself. When I listened closer I could hear her say “It can't be, It can't be” over and over again.   
“What is it Emma? What’s wrong?” Athena asked. This caused Emma just to cry into her hand. She looked around the group with tears going down her face before her gaze landed on Xion, they stared at one another for a moment before Xion nodded.   
“About one year ago Emma was driving to a concert with her friend Lauren, a girl she met in college, and they drove along the coast. Well when they were driving a drunk driver hit them at such a speed that they flew off the road. The road they were on was on the coast but the specific part was a bit higher up almost on a cliff so when they got hit the car went over the edge and into the ocean.” Xion stopped looking at Emma for a moment before continuing. “Emma woke up from a coma a few days later and was told that Lauren had died. The drunk driver was found out to be an 18 year old girl with a passenger. The driver was taken to jail while the passengers license was suspended because she was sober but let her friend drive when she was drunk. Emma never found out who the driver was or the passenger.”

Everyone was quiet after that, looking at Emma with pity but while everyone was looking at Emma I was questioning the importance of this discovery. If Bryan is the killer and Roy is the target then what does this have to do with Emma. And why Emma? I could understand Roy. He was the top of our class and always regarded as the standard for IB so it’s unlikely that he got some resentment over the years. But Emma, what was so special about her? There has to be a link between them too that no one is thinking about. And what does this article have to do with anything? There’s to many pieces to this puzzle and none of them were adding up. I looked at the article again, if this was supposed to be a threat or message for someone and that someone being Emma then what was the message? 

Then an idea formed. What if it wasn’t a message but a clue. The killer wants us to figure it out, it's obvious he is watching us how else would he know where Ethan is and know he was alone. So if he is watching us he knows how far we are into solving this, and honestly we haven’t made that much progress. So he leaves us a message or clue to get the investigation going. But if he is a thing to us then he knows that we know that Bryan must be the killer unless it's Emma L or Kristen. But assuming it is Bryan then what does he want us to figure out. The only thing that is left is the reason why he killed everyone. So why would he want us to figure it out and why would he want to get away with this. 

Unless he didn’t expect to get away with this.

What if the reason he left us this clue is that he wants us to understand why he did what he did? What if he has the same thoughts that we are on IB being a family and he wants us to understand why he had to kill this family to split us up. He wants us to understand the reason but he needs us to be divided so we are easier targets for one another and continue the blame since so far we only make progress if we are against one another or divided in some way. Rena figured everything out when she was alone, Ethan and Emma figured out what Rena meant when everyone else was against one another and now we find another clue when we are the most divided. It’s division that in the end which is the end goal he wants us to understand which has something to do with Emma and Roy but that’s not the main point, the goal is division and to go against one another.

I was about to speak my thoughts to the group when the door burst open and two people came in. I took them in because they were both girls. The one on the left had their arm on top of the other one and was leaning into them for support. She had a deep gash on her long that she had slightly raised off the ground. The girl on the right had more injuries but it was much less extensive; they seemed to be all cuts and bruises all over her hands, legs and face. That was when I heard the group gasp and a startled Athena get up and look at the girls before saying…

“Kristen? Emma?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special Thanks to Emma who wrote the Ethan gore scene


	7. Kristen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The long awaited wait is over. I’m kind of proud of this chapter so I hope you all like it

I guess I should start at the beginning. Emma and I decided that we were going to go on a hike before dinner. So we asked Rena if she wanted to come with us but she declined, she looked worried and said she needed to think of something. So we left and I guess that’s when everything started to go downhill.

“Come on Emma we need to get water in the cafeteria before we leave.” I exclaimed to Emma.  
I looked behind me and saw that a few paces behind me was Emma, one of my closest friends for a while now. Her hair was jet black but she had the ends of her hair now dyed a light purple and honestly she made the look work. MOst people would look more goth if they this toe of style but Emma pulled the look off while still wearing bright colors. At the moment she was wearing a pair of jean shorts with a light green t-shirt, she held a bright blue hydro flask in one hand and her phone in the other. She was holding her phone to the sky with a confused look on her face.  
“EMMA!”   
“Huh! What?” Kristen said looking away from her phone and looking at me.  
“You know you don’t get reception here, right?”  
“What, No. I did not.”  
“Did you not listen to a word of what Seth said?”  
“To be honest I kind of spaced out when he talked.”   
She just shrugged her shoulders. I just sighed a little in response. I walked towards the cafeteria and walked into the kitchen with Emma right behind me. When we entered I saw Seth cooking. He was dancing a little and seemed to be singing a tune under his breath. I coughed into my hand to signal that he was not alone anymore. Seth jumped at the sound but when he turned to the side to face he just smiled at us and waved.   
“Hey guys, did you need something.” He said still with a happy smile on his face.  
“No, we were just getting water and about to go on a hike.” I said walking to the water dispenser and started filling up my water.  
“Whatcha making?” Emma asked  
“Oh this, my family's famous lasagna. I wanted tonight to be a special night for all of us since it's the first time we have seen each other in a long time.”  
My heart squeezed at that. Seth was so sweet he was always thinking of all of us like together we could do anything. He was always like this and honestly without him I think we all would have lost touch with one another a long time ago.   
“Oooo, I can’t wait.” I said with excitement. “Well we should be off if we want to be back for dinner.”  
Seth waved goodbye to us as we left the kitchen.

Emma and I found the trail we were gonna go on for our hike. We were enjoying ourselves when we found that it seemed to be getting a bit into the afternoon. I was going to tell Emma that we should start heading back but we found a trail that was deviating from the main path and well our curiosity got the best of us. I mean we still had hours before we had to be back for dinner so we decided to go explore. We found that the trail went deeper into the island and started having a lot of twists and turns that after a few hours I could barely tell where the path was. I saw that that sun seemed to be setting and that we needed to get back but we couldn’t find the way back. 

I don’t know how long we looked but we only seemed to be getting farther away. At least that’s what it felt like. Soon we were out of water and the moon was high in the sky. That’s when we thought that if we could just get higher up into the mountain that we would be able to see where we needed to go and how far away we were. We went up the mountain but when we found a ridge we still couldn’t see where the camp was. We began to freak out and we didn’t know what to do. But when we looked out onto the ridge from the darkness I noticed there was a little cabin about a mile away and I thought we would be able to maybe rest up before the next day and find our way back. Plus if people came looking for us we would have been easy to find since Seth might have known about the cabin since he was the one who brought us to the island. 

When we reached the cabin we found that it had functioning water and electricity along with a map of the island pinned to the wall. It had the main camp marked along with the cabin with a trail highlighted with a time limit saying that it was only a half hour walk back. But Emma and I were so exhausted from walking so we decided that we needed to rest before getting back at least for like fifteen minutes. We must have fallen asleep on the couch because the next thing I remember is that I jerked awake waking Emma in the process of how much time had gone by. When we looked outside the moon was still out but we still had no idea what time it was. That’s when we heard a noise outside, I got afraid thinking it was a wild animal but then the door opened and a figure walked in. It was Bryan.

I thought we were saved. But Bryan seemed surprised to see that we were in the cabin and that’s when I took in the look of what he had with him. On his right shoulder he had a duffle bag while on his other shoulder he had a large gun strapped on him. I didn’t know guns very well so I couldn’t say what type of gun it was but it was definitely a scary sight to see. 

Bryan was quiet for a moment before getting a wide grin on his face.  
“Oh Thank goodness i found you too. Everyone has been worried sick.” He exclaimed.  
“What’s with the gun?” I asked him straight up. I mean it's Bryan. I've known him since sophomore year, why wouldn’t I ask him?  
“Oh this,” he then got a frown on his face and looked down. “I guess you two wouldn’t since you have been gone all day. But it seems that there is a killer on this island and he already has killed Seth.”   
I froze at that. What? Seth was dead? How could that be? But I just talked to him this morning and he was so full of life, so excited for tonight.   
“So when we found Seth dead we were worried for you two since Rena said you have been gone this morning. Hayden found a gun but no one knew how to operate it except me. So I decided that in order to spare the least amount of people that I would go and find you guys on my own.” Bryan said looking at the two of us. His eyes looked serious like he was studying us.  
His story seemed to make sense but I still thought it was a stupid idea for him to come by himself. I mean by letting the only person that knows how to operate a gun leaves and the rest of everyone was left defenseless it seemed like a dumb move. But for how smart that our group was supposed to be I also know how stupid we could be at times, so it seemed like a possiability that they weren’t thinking correctly espically after what happened.  
“We should get back then. As soon as possible.” Emma said she seemed to be almost out of breath and when I looked at her she seemed to be on the verge of panic.   
“Not a good idea. We should wait till morning since there would be more light to see the trail back. For now we can just camp here and get back to everyone in the morning.”  
I was about to argue but Bryan walked into the room that was across the living room area from where we were and closed the door.   
“Something is off with him. But I don’t know what.” Emma said  
I nodded in agreement feeling the same way. Bryan seemed to be so focused and serious yet he didn’t want to get back or wasn’t in such a rush. Maybe it was the grief but it seemed to be something else.

We decided that giving Bryan some time was what was needed for the moment. But after a while and Bryan still not out of the room Emma and. Went to check on him. We knocked on the door but there was no answer. After a couple more minutes of knocking we grew worried so we decided to go in. When we walked in we found Bryans duffle bag opened but Bryan was gone and the window opened. I walked towards the duffle bag and inside was a notebook and some newspaper. I grabbed the notebook and opened it up. It seemed to be gibberish at first random words and some pictures were drawn but as I started flipping the pages I found that some words seemed to grow bigger and written more frequently.

Words like: Lauren, drunk driver? Who’s the passenger? Pay! All her Fault! IB TRIP.

Then one page seemed to be more organized and I saw that it was a list.

Seth. Her friend and only source of everything on the island.

Plant bomb on boat

Roy. Too smart needs to be eliminated.

Ethan. Blamed person. Need everyone to not understand who it is. Need them afraid.

Emma. For what happened.

Jamie. Probably knows.

ANYONE WHO GETS IN MY WAY

Passenger. MAKE THEM SUFFER.

Then under it in Bright Red colors were two words.

FOR LAUREN

I gasped and looked to Emma who was reading the note back over my shoulder.   
“Oh no! The killer is Bryan. And I think this is his hit list.” I said.   
I didn’t know how to feel everything just felt empty. I could only feel the cold breeze from the outside.  
“LOOK! There’s more writing on the next page.” Emma said, grabbing the book and turning the page. She gasped and dropped the book. I bent down and picked it up and on the page was a sentence that would be forever stuck in my head.

Now you know, but soon you will be dead.

“We need to get out of here.” I said “NOW!”  
We ran from the bedroom and I grabbed the map from the wall then ran outside. But as soon as we stepped outside I tripped on a chord. The chord seems to cause a whirring noise. I yelled at Emma to move while I rolled over but Emma didn’t seem to hear me fast enough for I heard a scream and when I looked over there were two sharp pointed sticks in one of Emma's legs. I quickly got to her and pulled out the sticks causing a gash to form on her leg that seemed to be bleeding pretty badly. Emma screamed from the pain causing me to flinch. I ripped off a piece of my shirt and started wrapping her leg tightly causing Emma to moan in pain.   
“We need to go.” I said. Emma just nodded in response.   
I got up and grabbed Emma's arm and slung it over my shoulders to support her weight and let her lean on me. We started walking into the forest. I kept looking around hoping to God that there were no more traps. 

Our pace was slow but with looking for traps and Emma being hurt it was better than nothing. When I thought we were about halfway back to the camp the sun was beginning to rise and I was better able to see the map. We were still walking when we heard a rustle in the bushes next to us. This caused me to stop my tracks and freeze, scared to death that the noise was Bryan. But to my surprise a figure did walk out but it wasn’t Bryan. It was Roy. 

“Roy?” I said. “Oh my gosh. Roy. I’m so happy to see you.”  
“Kristen? Emma? You are alive?” He said confused looking at the both of us.   
“Of course we are alive, but were almost killed by Bryan so we need to get back to camp immediately.” I said quickly motioning forwards. Roy looked at me then behind us.   
“No you don't understand. I’m pretty sure the killer is after me. I told Seth to meet me in the cafeteria and we found him dead and then someone tried to shoot causing…” he stopped at that before looking at us with wide eyes.  
“Causing what?”  
“He missed but as soon as I figured it out I ran away into the woods. Wait did you say Bryan is the killer but Bryan died”  
“What? No, last night he came into a cabin we found and said that Seth died and that we needed to wait till morning to go back to camp. But Roy, we found his hit list. You aren’t the only target.”  
“What who else?”  
“Well Seth, You, Ethan, Jamie, Emma… C and now the both of us.”   
“Wait, the other Emma is a target.”  
“Yeah, along with all three of us so we need to get a move on. NOW!”  
Roy grabbed Emma’s other arm and started walking with us. The branches around us cause our arms and faces to be scratched but I could hardly care for that after everything that has been happening. We continued to walk but I forgot to look around for traps on the floor since after not finding any all night I thought we were done. So when Roy stepped on something and another whirring noise came I wasn’t prepared. But it seemed Roy was for he pushed Emma to the ground causing me to fall with. When a log came swinging down with a pointed edge and went straight through Roy’s chest.

This caused Roy blood to splash on us and the log still swung forward carrying Roy’s dead corpse with it before it came back and started to slow down its pace. I couldn’t believe it. But if the corpse wasn’t in front of me I don’t think I would have believed that after everything this was how Roy was going to die. I stood up and walked towards thyme log and into Roy’s face. His face was slack and his mouth was closed and his eyes were closed like he was preparing for the impact and just accepted his death. I cried out and started crying and I could hear that Emma was doing the same. After a few minutes I grabbed Emma and pulled her up and started back on the path to the camp. It took us about a good half hour to get there at our slow pace. We headed straight for the cafeteria hoping to find some people. When we walked in I saw that it looked like a good amount of people were sitting at the table when I saw Athena get up and say.  
“Kristen? Emma?”  
“Oh my God you guys are alive!” Bri said, getting up and running towards us.   
“Sorry to excuse the reunion but it looks like we need to get you guys cleaned up.” Hayden said “Here I'll take you two to the kitchen and we can get you guys patched up and cleaned up. While I catch you up on what's happening and then you guys can tell us what happened to you guys.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was so surprised that so much seemed to happen and so many people had died the night we were gone. I didn’t even know how to process any of it especially what happened to Rena. 

I then briefed the rest of the group on our experiences of the night. When I got to the hit list and the people on it many people seemed to grow uncomfortable.  
“But how did he know that we would blame Ethan?” Colin asked  
“I think that somehow Bryan has been watching us. Listening. So maybe he made that hit list that night.” Bobby responded   
“That would make sense since the next page was clearly meant for Emma and I saying that we would be the next targets.” I said  
I continued the recap but as soon as I finished Emma C got out of her chair and then ran out of the room. That got me thinking of how out of all the people on the hit list that Roy seemed to be the most scared for Emma, and judging from her reaction then maybe something was going on between them.   
“Now that we know everything I think we should figure out why this is all happening.” Malachi said  
“Isn’t it obvious?” Bobby spoke up “I mean after listening to Kristen tell us her side everything seems to be coming together. The girl Lauren, the one that died in the drunk driving accident with Emma was the reason for all of this. Somehow Bryan knew Lauren so when she died he wanted some kind of justice. But the driver was killed, but not the passenger. So it’s possible that the passenger was someone in IB because why else would he choose to strike now. Well because he found a way for everyone that he needed to be there to be gathered at once. He killed Seth because he most likely knew most of the island and how to get off the fastest. Roy because he figured he was the most likely to figure everything out. Ethan because he needs us afraid and understands that he killed everyone and not blamed someone else. Emma C because she was there that night. Everyone on the boat since they tried to get help. Kristen and Emma L since they were loose ends. But the only people left are Jamie and the passenger. But according to the hit list Jamie knows the reason which means she must know who the passenger is making her a target. And finally the passenger who Bryan blames for letting a drunk person on the road that killed Lauren that night.”   
I absorbed what Bobby said like everything was coming into place. That the puzzle pieces were finally making sense. But there was still something missing. I turned to Jamie.  
“So Jamie who was the passenger because apparently you know who it is.” I said  
Everyone turned to Jamie who was looking at the tables with a frown on her face.

“It was me. I was the passenger. I am the reason that everyone is dead.” The new voice said, causing everyone to turn to the figure. I was surprised at who it was and it seemed everyone was in the same state of shock because no one said a word. 

That’s when the doors burst open and walked in Emma , her eyes red and puffy and right behind her with a pistol on her back was Bryan. Bryan smiled at us, but the smile wasn’t friendly. It was sinister. If I survived this day then it would haunt me for the rest of my life. 

Then a shot rang out and Emma’s body fell to the floor. I heard a bunch of people scream but that caused Bryan to point the gun towards the people in the room. 

“Yes, please continue, Izzy , tell us how you killed my precious Lauren. Actually you know what I have a better idea and let me say my idea is a lot more fun and will end in a lot more death.”

Bryan then laughed and threw something on the table right next to everyone. It looked like a grenade but it started spitting out smoke instead of exploding. My head started to feel fuzzy and that’s when I realized that it was knockout gas. I started seeing everyone around me collapse and looked over and Bryan who was still laughing over Emma’s C dead body wearing one of those gas masks. Then the world turned black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all liked.
> 
> Feedback is always appreciated and actually gives me such motivation and happiness when I get feedback from everyone


	8. Izzy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final Chapter I’m sorry it took me so long to write

The world was dark and a terrible place. When you think that after everything that you have faced and overcame was behind you then suddenly it's like life pulls you back. 

My life was just getting to a better place after the accident, I was thriving in college, having a great life and sharing an apartment with my best friend. But i guess that life doesn’t want me to be happy because just as I was getting back to normal was when everything went wrong. I went on this trip because I thought it would be good to see everyone’s from my past and reconnect like the good old times. But instead I was met with death and all my past problems. I didn’t know at first that everything was my fault, when Seth died I was just as shocked as everyone else. Seth was my friend and we would always talk and gossip in our art class instead of doing our work. Then Rena was gone and that was also hard for me for we would always talk and were close. I guess when I found out that everything was my fault was when we found out Bryan was alive. 

I knew that karma was going to strike me down for what happened that night but I just hoped that when it did that no one was taken down with me. You see when the events of that awful event came to play I couldn’t believe that the person that my friend hit was none other than Emma and her friend Lauren. When I heard that Emma was one of the passengers I prayed to the heavens that I didn’t kill one of my friends I later heard that Emma would make a recovery but that the driver, Lauren, hadn’t survived. I left the hospital immediately and couldn’t stand to face Emma so I just ran and ignored the press. Luckily they hid my name from the papers so no one knew that I was involved but a few months later was when Bryan confronted me. 

He came to my apartment and I was lucky that no one was home except for me. When I opened my door I was confused on why he was here since we were never that close in high school. I could tell that he was clearly upset, his shoulders looked tense and he was shaking like he was about to break down at any moment. When I asked him why he was here he just looked at my eyes like he was trying to find something in them. He then handed me an envelope and then just turned around and walked away, I called to him but he just kept walking until he was just gone. When I opened the envelope I saw that it was a single picture of Bryan and Lauren together. They seemed to be sitting on a ledge of a wall of something, LAuren was laughing while looking at the camera but Bryan had his face on Laurens shoulder closing his eyes just smiling like everything was at peace. That night I never cried so much in my life and Jamie found me and that was the first time I told someone of what happened on the night of the incident. I was hoping that I could just avoid Bryan this entire trip and that it would not be awkward but apparently he had different ideas of what was going to happen. 

——————————-

When I woke up I seemed to be tied to some type of chair, my hands tied behind my back and my feet tied to the bottom of the legs. In front of me were a bunch of screens each seemed to contain a person all of them were in some type of tank some seemed to be pounding on the glass and others seemed to be just sitting in a corner. When I looked closer I saw that each screen held a different one of my friends, it didn’t seem like they were hurt but I couldn’t tell on the poor resolution screens. 

I stared at the screens for awhile when suddenly each screen started to change until they all formed what seemed to be a video and it seemed to form the figure of Bryan on the screen. 

“Hello there, Isabella.” He said, his voice staticky but still clear creating an ominous tone.   
“You're probably wondering what's happening at the moment and seeing that you and everyone else are detained I have no problem telling you. You see I know that you all finally pieced everything together and let me tell you I’m supervised on how stupid you all. I mean like geez I laid everything out for you guys and you still couldn’t figure it out. Anyways I decided that to finally make you suffer I’m going to make you watch the people you love die then I was gonna kill you but then an idea came to me what if I didn’t kill everyone. What if instead I gave you generosity and made you choose who lived and who dies. You see I’m going to let you choose who lives and who dies.” He then started to laugh and the screens turned to darkness. 

To say I was scared was a beyond understatement. Making me choose which one of my friends who would die was worse than anything that i could imagine. How would I choose that? How would I decide that one life is more important than another. I was lost in my thoughts that I didn’t notice that the screens in front of me changed again. Now there were two figures on the right was Alyssa and on the left was Malachi on the bottom screens a timer was counting down telling me I had 5 minutes to choose. 5 minutes to decide what life was more important to live. 

As the timer started to count down I saw that the tanks that my friends were in started to fill up with water and at a fast pace. That’s when I realized he wanted to kill them the way that Lauren died. By drowning. 

I looked at the faces of my friends. Malachi seemed to be banging on the glass screaming something at someone. There must have been no mic in the room for I couldn’t tell what he was saying but I didn’t want to hear what he would say for the noise would probably haunt me for the rest of my days. 

I then poked over at Alyssa and she was stone faced. It seemed like she found the camera in the room because she was staring straight at it. Well straight at me. She didn’t look scared she seemed to be pissed but I know that was only a facade and that she was truly terrified under that stone cold expression. She looked as if she was in deep thought. I thought that maybe she was just trying to stare at the camera thinking that Bryan might be at the end of it watching but then something changed she looked over at the side of her and when she turned back her expression changed. Her stone cold face was now soft, her expression turned and she gave a small smile then without breaking eye contact she seemed to mouth something over and over again making sure to do it slowly so that I was able to understand what she was saying. 

It’s ok. 

That’s what it seemed like she was mouthing over and over again. I don’t know how but she must have figured out what was happening and that I was the one at the other end of the camera and I don’t know how but somehow she must have figured out what's going on. Maybe she heard Malachis yell from a different room I’m not sure but what I don know now was that she was telling me that it's ok if she dies. Like she was forgiving me for a deed that hasn’t happened yet. I looked at the timer and it read that there was 30 seconds left and from it looks of it the water was now about ¾ the way full. 

“I’ve made my decision.”  
“And who have you decided will die and who will live.” Bryan said from a speaker not showing his face.   
“Kill her. Let Alyssa die and let Malachi live.”  
“Hmm, an interesting turn of events I was sure that you would keep her alive but oh well people are different than you think.”

ANd with that I saw that Malachi's water in his tank stopped growing and that Alyssa seemed to grow in ferocity. Mal seemed to stop shouting and banging looking around in confusion but Alyssa kept looking forward at the camera that same soft expression on her face and when the water was completely full the timer rang signaling that the five minutes was up and then the screens went black. 

I screamed at the screen shouting obscenities and cursing Bryan and everything in the world for making me choose for now I couldn’t save my friend and I was going to have to do it again. 

“How about we make this go a bit quicker I’m finding that one at a time is quite boring.” Bryan said 

Suddenly the screen had many people on it. But they were divided in groups of two showing clearly who I had to choose from what group. I saw that Colin was paired with Bobby, Emma L with Hayden, Kristen with Ashley, Athena with Jazzy, and Bri with Xion. In the middle of the screen another timer appeared and now it only said that I had three minutes to decide the fate of all my friends. 

I started to panic. I didn’t know what to do and who to pick. It was hard enough the first time and I didn’t even really choose then Alyssa did she made the choice for herself so how am I posed to do it now. I saw that the water was already halfway full and that the clock was now saying I had one and a half minutes left. 

But something happened, some type of miracle the water stopped in all the videos and one by one the cameras turned to a static screen. SOmething was happening or someone. I didn’t know who but it was obvious that a person was doing this, cutting off the water supply and turning off the cameras probably freeing everyone at this moment. I heard a door open and I thought I was saved but then I felt a gun placed to my head. 

“What is going on?” Bryan angrily asked me if I could practically hear his teeth grinding behind me.   
“I’m not sure but whatever it is I’m glad it did.” I replied back

Bryan seemed to grow more frustrated by that comment. I heard the click of the gun and I closed my eyes preparing for the worst to come. But I smiled knowing that while my death may be inevitable that everyone would most likely escape from the mysterious savior and I was happy for that at least.

I heard a shot rang out but I didn’t feel anything, no pressure, nothing. The weight of the gun pressing against me was gone and then I heard a thump of a body hitting the floor. I then felt the ropes around me loosen and when I got up I turned around I saw that Bryan's body was on the floor a pool of blood around the back of his head showing that he was shot. When I looked up I saw the figure who had killed Bryan and I gasped.

“Rena?” 

She looked my way and just smiled before motioning at me with one arm to follow her. She led me through what seemed to be a maze of twists and turns before we walked through a door and we were outside. I was greeted by fresh air and I saw that everyone was there that it must have been Rena who freed everyone. 

“But how? I thought that you were dead.” I said turning to Rena. Everyone seemed to gather around also wanting to hear how Rena seemed to escape death.  
“I thought that I was. I remember getting shot and the world turning black but when I woke up later I was greeted by Hayden with a bandage around my wound. It looked like he patched me up and got the bleeding under control. He told me what happened and on how I got shot. He said that it isn’t safe for me to be out there with a wound and would make me more vulnerable for another attack. So he told me to stay in the room and that he was going to tell everyone that I died by bleeding out so that the killer wasn’t going to look for me and that he would check in on me after every meal and bring me a plate so I can eat. But he missed our designated time and that’s when I realized something must have happened. When I snuck out of my room I went looking for everyone but couldn’t find anyone. I started looking everywhere and that’s when I saw Bryan dragging a body towards the aquarium and I figured out that he was the killer. I followed him and saw that he was putting everyone in these tanks and that a tube was connected to it. I assumed it must have been water so I went to find the source so I could turn it off but that took longer than I thought. I did find a gun on. The way though just left out so I took it and went on my way. When I turned it off I then found the electric panel next to the water supply but I didn’t know what to do with that so I just shot it and a bunch of sparks went off so I assumed it did something. With that done I started to free everyone, whatever I did to the control panel made the automatic locks turn off on the tanks so I just had to open the hatch above the tank to let everyone out. When I couldn’t find you I started looking in every room and I found Bryan with a gun to your head so I shot him first.”

I was amazed. Thanks to Rena and Haydens hiding of Rena, that this nightmare was finally over. I just wished that Sam many lives had to be taken in order for this to be finally over. 

I looked out to the sea to a setting sun when I saw a ship coming. The supply ship! It finally came. I realize that maybe after all this at least we can be thankful for the lives that weren’t amen but thankful for allowing us to be able to live to honor the ones that were lost. 

With one final look to the sunset I breathed in and for the first time in the last couple days I let out a breath at finally being to to breath without worrying about another Murder in the IB.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end. Hope everyone liked it


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